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Monday, January 31, 2011

A lot of you know that we were blessed 3 years ago by having a special little boy join our family, and call him our own! This is the story of that little boy!

We will call him "J". On December 30th of 2007, I was shopping at Target getting things for the house, and getting ready for the holiday weekend. I received a call from my brother who was extremely upset and said I needed to come quickly to his house! So I dropped what I was doing and rushed over. There had been an argument between him and "J's" mother, and she decided to get the police involved. I spent about an hour with the police officers and we came to the decision that it was best that "J" was removed from the home. The officers stayed with me until my brother packed up my car with all of his belongings, and we never looked back. It was a rough first few weeks, but after that he was just like one of our own!! Our children at the time were 4 and 2, and Jayden had just turned 1.

This is about a year later, on a family vacation....

We spent months getting our lives Organized with a 3rd child, not to mention trying to purchase everything he needed at that age. We went through an attorney and filed for guardianship, which was a trying time in itself, but we followed through and got it! Our kids were so great to him, but at the same time they were so confused as to why he was now living with us, and not his mom and dad.

After the first few weeks we had decided that we should probably get the crib out of the attic and get the room set-up as if it was his own! I don't have a picture of his first room in our home, but let's just say he LOVED it!! Here is a picture of the boys when they got their new bed from Ikea last year....

After about 6 months, I heard "J" call my hubby "Daddy"! It was something that touched us all. We never told him we were mom and dad, but he took it upon himself to call us by that. We had made him feel welcomed, loved and safe. He knew we would not turn our backs on him, and that he had a place to call home. Here is one of my fav pics of him. He was so sick, and fell asleep on the couch with his bowl:

Fast forward to March of 2010, his mom and dad got back together, had jobs and a place to live, and demanded that "J" go back to live with them. I remember looking at my husband and just breaking down in tears. I knew we wanted him to be raised with his parents, but for so long they did not care to come see him, let alone care to raise him. We really had no choice but to let him go. We did however still have legal guardianship over him the entire time. We only sent him with the basics, and his blankie. It was VERY hard to not let him take everything, but his mom and dad needed to realize that raising a child is not cheap, and I was in no way going to provide everything for them.

We got to see "J" maybe once a week if we were lucky, and that was VERY hard on us all. We missed him so much, and I know he was so confused! His mom and dad made sure that he knew we were not his mom and dad, and that they were. He became very withdrawn when he was around us during this time. It was so sad to stand by and watch this happen to such a sweet child that we raised for 2 and a half years!

Fast forward to August of 2010! I get yet ANOTHER phone call from my mother this time, saying that she was on her way to pick up "J" and that he would be coming to live with us again....

There had been another incident with the mom and dad, and this was the last straw! We opened our home up to him again, and it was as if he never left. I had not brought myelf to clean out his closet while he was gone, and maybe that was a sign of what was to come.

As of today, we still have full guardianship, and the mom is out of the picture until she can stay out of legal trouble. His dad on the other hand is in and out.

I know that this child is not mine. But I want to know how long he has to be put through this? How long does my family have to be put through this? I could wake up tomorrow and lose this little boy again. My hubby and I have decided that if they take him back again, that this is it. We cannot keep doing this to ourselves and our own children. Is that selfish? It was the hardes't decision to make because we do love this little boy as our own, but the stress of him mom and dad, and the heartache of losing a child is a lot to go through.

We would keep him forever in a heartbeat if it came to that, but we may never know. As for now, we live day by day, praying that this little boy stays safe in our home!!

I hope you enjoyed those cute pictures of our special little boy, and PLEASE give me any feedback you may have!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

As most of you know by know, I am living the dream of a circus ring leader at this moment in life. To give you an update, we got the kitchen faucet (i bought a cheapo) installed and had water for about 10 minutes, and then we started on the shower..... So I currently have NO water at all, which means no baths, no potty and no cooking... which the cooking isn't a big deal because I still have NO stove and NO Dishwasher to wash the dishes that we can't use anyway.....

OK, enough on that rant!!

Yesterday while we patiently waited for our plumber friend to arrive I decided to get the grippers on the new furniture. 2 years ago when we refinished the original wood floors, we bought rubber bumper feet for our furniture. Over time (about 6 months) they wore down so far that the screws were exposed, and we had no idea. Until, I moved the couch to clean, and discovered this:

How sad was I?!?!?!?!? So, yes it still looks like that until we get the sander, stain, and poly out to fix it. Luckily it is hidden under the furniture......

So, now what? It is a pet peeve of mine to have the furniture moving around the room with 3 kids, ALL the time!! My best friend had the idea to use shelf liner!! Here is what you need for this project: (slurpee is optional, but a must for me!!!)

Remove the existing feet from the furniture so that you have a flat surface to adhere to

Cut your first square to fit the bottom of the foot

Sorry for the blurry pic, but then you will want to use that first square as a template for the rest. Cut all of your squares at once, it makes life easier, trust me!!

Then grab that trusty glue gun and start gluing! I did use a popsicle stick to press them down (not shown) so that I would not get as many burns.. yes I said as many.... I always burn myself!!

Walla! Here is what it looks like finished!

And here is how my furniture is placed and will now stay thanks to a best friend and a $5 roll of shelf liner!! Yea baby!!

Over time these will get dusty & dirty and will start to slide... I change mine about once a year or so. And these suckers make it hard to move the funiture, which is AWESOME in my kiddie land life!!
Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be back soon with some final updates on the circus performance!!!Mondays Tips & Tricks party with Homebody

Friday, January 28, 2011

This is a post I would rather not write... but it's almost too funny not to. This will sum up the complete chaos I have lived through in the last 48 hours, and still going.....

Oh Wednesday morning, my husband got up for work to head to Eastern Oregon to pick up all of my parents furniture from their ranch home they are selling. We were very lucky and were pretty much given anything we wanted... REALLY?!?!?!?! You mean I can RE-do my living room again??? Score!

All the while, I have 3 kids who were sick for the last 2 weeks, but on Wednesday they were all back in school!! YAY!!!

So fast forward... I pick the kids up, and we have one of my daughters friends over with her mom and baby sister, and my little girl decides she wants to go in and go to sleep.. say what???? So I follow her in, and felt her head, and she had a fever of 103.7!!! Knowing that she had already been sick, I knew something was not right. I called the doc, they ran some tests and did x-rays on her chest, and we left being told that she pretty much now has the flu... oh goody, another bug to pass through the house.

Rewind a little bit.... since we were getting stuff from the ranch, we decided to swap out our stove and dishwasher.. thus leaving me with no stove or dishwasher... no big deal for one night right?? We only had a few dishes in the sink, so I thought I would just get them done by hand. Well to my suprise, THE SINK FAUCET BROKE and I flooded my whole kitchen!!!!

OK, let's show you some pictures....

Here is our old living room set-up. I did love this furniture, and it is sooo comfy, but there are a few flaws like the leather our youngest pulled off over time on the chair in the corner..... And since I was home with my sick baby, I was able to get the room ready for the delivery of the new furniture, so this is the during picture:

And this is the new living room set!! I am in love, but I need to change out a few things, and finish my wall decor in order for it to be complete!

We also got upgraded to an AMAZING King bed set!!! This set is practically new.... our room is a little tight, but we will figure it out, and yes I know I still need to finish the crown moulding!

OK, so back to my flooded kitchen! Needless to say, I gave up on the dishes, and once my hubby got home, he was so exhausted that he was not even going to look at it. So, Thursday they moved everything in, and well.. the dishwasher is too big... This is really not a big deal at all because our whole kitchen is being torn out in a month or so..... but luck would give it to me this way of course.....

And you say we are missing a stove?? Well that would be because the pigtail does not fit the outlet?!?!

And, we have to get a whole new kitchen faucet to fix this:

I am so embarrassed to show you these pictures of our nasty 1950's kitchen, but this is my life.... We have waited 2 years to tear it out, and this is finally the year!! I cannot wait. So, we have the new faucet for the new kitchen, but I REALLY dont want to install it on the old sink... so do I buy a cheapo one, or just give in and open my new box???

Now moving on to Thursday night. Let's re-cap, I currently have No sink, No Stove and No Dishwasher.... so dinner is pretty much a given that we are eating out. At about 5 o'clock i got a call from a friend inviting us ALL out to dinner, and she had NO CLUE what was going on at our house.... I was THRILLED!!!! I told her "give me 30 minutes to get the kids cleaned up" and we will be there. We had a gorgeous day and the kids were playing out back in the dirt.. so they were filthy!!!

They all come in and get undressed, and I go to turn on the shower, and wel... YEP it's BROKEN!!!! I am not kidding... this is what it looks like at this very moment:

Now, we only have one bathroom... so... now we are down a Kitchen Sink, Stove, Dishwasher and a Shower/Bathtub!! Is this for real?

I am currently sitting here typing this not so short little blog in my jammies with crazy hair wondering if I will even shower today, and waiting for my Starbucks to be delivered... they do deliver right???

I am sure I am leaving details out, like me slipping and falling in my flooded kitchen, and then sitting in the water laughing my head off with my 7 year old son, thinking is this really my life??

So, as you see we have a pretty extensive to do list for the weekend, and I will be keeping you updated! Once these are all fixed I wil go back to the fun projects, like my new shutters for my mantle!!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Ok, so one of my all time Fave Bloggette's (Sarah @ Thrifty Decor Chick) is going to feature some newbies while she is at Blissdom... do you think I stand a chance? I mean, wow... this is HUGE to me!!!!

What do I even have to offer?

Well I am VERY crafty when it comes to gifts and themes!! Teachers are always getting gifts for every holiday... like these Halloween Survival kits:

I am ADDICTED to organizing and labels!!! And love sharing tips.....

And, i will admit it... i have a problem with wood and spray paint...... they are like a runner up to my best friend... ok well, maybe thats a stretch.......The truth is, I am a new blogger with many great things to offer, but I am just learning how to navigate this fun thing (my blog, not the computer) I am so inspired by all the Veteran bloggers out there, and hope to one day be just like them!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Who on earth would have thought that a Party like the one that Decorchick is hosting would be so fun and exciting to link up to?!?!?!? This is the real deal, and It is so me!! It is called Real Homes, Real Messes, Real Life!!

2 months ago, I was quizzing other moms at school, just how did they do it??? How did they keep up on laundry, dishes, a clean house, homework, kids, and a marriage?? Because I am stumped as to how people make it look so easy!! Well, It's not, and I have learned that other moms have piles of laundry, a basket of un-matches socks, dirty toilets, last nights dishes in the sink, and kids rooms that you can barely enter! Thank you Lord, I am not the only one out there!!! :)

So, here we go (as I hang my head in shame) This one isn't bad at all, but if you notice, I have only half of my valentines decor up! And in the far right..... yes that is a pumpkin...

Take a step back and to the left and it gets more fun! Dying flowers on the table, toys all on the floor, cups on the table, laundry pile on the chair, and on the far table under the lamp... that is my sock pile.

Here is a better look at the landry pile, and my new buffet from the Salvation Army. It will be re-finished, and yes the whole wall is now off-centered. That whole side of the room is in the middle of a transformation and in NO WAY will look the same in the next few weeks!!

Ahhh... a CLEAN bathroom! One point Mom, 2 points house!!

Moving on to the Boys! Oiy Vay....... Well they HAD an adorable firetruck room... and if you notice under the bed there WAS gutter book shelves, but the 4 year old got the best of them. They have lost all toys for not cleaning which is why the Ikea Trofast organizers have no totes in them!!

Now on to the girl child.... well the boys like to play.. err I mean destroy her room too. And since they have lost their toys, why not drag out all the bedding? So in her room, you have a mix of bedding and totes full of stuff blocking her whole room......

And I will admit, my room is not much better!! However, I started to take my bedding off my bed this morning, and who knows why I never finished. So, my bed is not made at all, and there is just a little bit of everything going on in our room! hahaha Ok, and we still have to finish the crown moulding, notice that??

This is the catch all of the house. This is the nook between our kitchen and the laundry room. New kitchen stuff just waiting for a remodel, girls bedding waiting for a clean room, and the wii organizer waiting to find a home on Craigslist... the rest just needs to be put away!

Ahh... heaven. Ok, well it's a messy heaven, but I can still have fun in there!! This mess was created in just 2 days.

Alrighty, so this room is clean for the most part, but if you look up top we need to finish painting....

But this is what it looked like 2 weeks ago........ I will have you know that I have caught up about 95% of our laundry!!! Go MOM!! ok, whats the score? Like 2 Mom, 10 house!!

But, who am I trying to kid?? You could hardly walk through the door.....

Let's face it, I work 5 days a week, and have 3 kids.... my house is going to be messy. When I get home at 5, the LAST thing I want to do is clean!! HOWEVER!?!?!?! My hubby has been working a lot of overtime, which means I get to leave work early to pick up the kids, thus giving me more time to clean. I plan to re-post all of this by the end of this month, and show you how CLEAN everything is!!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Tonight I found myself in the kitchen waiting for my homemade chicken noodle soup to finish cooking, and went looking for a container to put leftovers in for lunch for tomorrow. And to my suprise i could not find a match for the life of me! So, I said to myself "Jenn, this is not right, nor is this you" It was that second that I opened my cupboard doors and pulled EVERYTHING out!! Well at least in the plastics dept... here is what I was sitting in the middle of.......

OK, so that picture doesn't look too bad, the bad part is that I was only about half way there!! And this my folks is why my Tupperware lady loves me!!! And I think I love her more :)

I started to sort thru everything and find all the matches and realized I truly have a problem/addiction to plastic. For example, These are JUST freezer containers..... so WHY are they in the cabinets?????

These are for my childrens lunches, and I only have 2 of them that take lunch to school?!?!

These are all produce containers, but do you think you will find one in the fridge?? Nada! Oh, and dont let the picture fool you, there are about 13 of them there!

Here is everything all nicely tucked away, all matched up! (yes, it drives the hubby crazy that I do this) but it makes life looking for tupperware much more enjoyable!!

OK, so I have shown you my un-used stock of plastic, now let's be fair and show you where the true addiction lies......

This my friends is my Pasta and cereal stash............ aaahhhh so lovely.........

This is my spice/baking area.............

And this is what is currently on top of my fridge until we do our remodel...........

So, what do you say?? A little OCD? Many people drool over the organization, but really what do you think??? I would love to come do this to anyones houses too.... it gives me a high to play with plastic and a label maker! Ha

Oh, and one more thing... as a reminder to myself why we are going to tear apart our 59 year old kitchen... just scroll back through the photos and look at those gnarly cabinets!! March can't be here soon enough!!!

The Craft House

About Me

Hello! I am Jenn, also known as One Thrifty Chick. Join me on my journey as I face life as full time concrete contractor, wife, mommy of 3, and lover of all things creative! I enjoy spray paint, building, home renovations, Interior design, thrifting, and I have been known to throw some pretty awesome parties in my years too. Happy blogging my friends!